ken
New Member
Posts: 10 
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Post by ken on Aug 17, 2015 9:18:00 GMT -5
I'm brand new to this website.
1. Let's say you're looking for a vintage fan on Craigslist or eBay, how do you know if the fan motor is a Emerson K55 or Casablanca XLP? Most of the time googling a model number will not get you this information. AND are there other fan motors that are just as acceptable?
2. How old is old enough to get passed all that new JUNK?
3. Are Hunter, Emerson, Casablanca, and Fasco the only brands I should be looking at?
4. Is it safe to assume that all old ceiling fans are reversible and multi-speed, just like the new ones of today?
5. I am currently looking at a good working cast-iron oil-filled Hunter right now, what is a good price?
6. Is any vintage ceiling fan that is "oil filled" a 10?
7. Is there a list somewhere of vintage fan manufacturers w/ model numbers of quality fans worth looking at?
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Post by Obi-Wan Canopy on Aug 17, 2015 12:34:04 GMT -5
Any K55 type motor is as good. There are many offbrands of the K55 in addition to Emerson, Casablanca, GE, Universal, etc. Some would argue a cast iron spinner motor is similar in quality. You can usually identify the motor type by looking where the blades mount. K55 type motor use a flywheel of some sort (usually rubber) to mount the blades to the motor shaft. Spinner motors do not have a rotating motor shaft, the entire motor housing rotates and the blades mount directly. This is what a K55 motor with rubber flywheel looks like:  This is what a cheap, stamped (as opposed to cast) spinner motor looks like:  There are countless brands that are good quality. Casablanca, Emerson and Fasco are likely to be high quality fans with limited issues. Hunter fans cover a much wider range. There's no real "how old". They still make K55 fans today. Ceiling fans started being heavily mass produced around 1979 and the cheap imports started flooding in in 1981, but there were cheap American made fans prior to that. It is NOT a likely assumption that all vintage fans are reversible and multi speed, but reverse is a useless gimmick. There are no poor quality fans that take oil that I can think of. Originals can be had for $5-1000, I would say anything within $50-200 is a fair price. I know of no such list, again, every quality manufacturer also made junk. |
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Post by JW on Aug 17, 2015 14:42:19 GMT -5
I'm brand new to this website. 1. Let's say you're looking for a vintage fan on Craigslist or eBay, how do you know if the fan motor is a Emerson K55 or Casablanca XLP? Most of the time googling a model number will not get you this information. AND are there other fan motors that are just as acceptable? Most American-made fans from the late 70's-mid-80's used a K55 or equivalent. The Casablanca XLP is very similar to and replaced the K55 in Casablanca's higher-end offerings. Some Hunter non-Original fans used a motor similar to the K55 and their other ones used a basic spinner motor. Imports almost always used spinner motors. There are a couple that used motors similar to a K55, but in my experience these same companies compromised on blade quality and the result was an extremely wobbly fan. Every generation of fans had its stinkers. Most fans from the late 70's-early 80's are good as long as you avoid anything gear-driven or belt-driven. The "builder fan" entered the scene around the mid-80's and had become ubiquitous by the 90's, which is about when things started to go downhill across the board. Encon in particular went down the toilet around 1993 or so. If you are looking for vintage, Old Jacksonville and Homestead are also good. Encon (Crompton Greaves) made some that were more industrial in nature and are wall controlled but move a TON of air. There are still lots of these around. If you're looking for new, Fasco no longer exists, Hunter and Casablanca (which Hunter now owns) are decreasing in quality, really leaving Emerson as the best quality current manufacturer IMO (and even they produce a line of builder fan models). Hunter in particular has taken a nosedive; there are models they sell through Lowe's and Home Depot that barely move any air at all. Most of them have multiple speeds (if not on a rheostat/variable speed control), but not all of them are reversible. Most Casablancas are, Hunter non-Originals are, Emerson seems to be a roll of the dice until the mid-80's, and imports usually but not always are. Hunter Originals weren't electrically reversible until 1985 or so but had two manual reversing systems (Reverse-Aire and Adaptair) with which you could physically adjust the pitch of the blades for updraft or downdraft. In the 70's-80's they retailed for around $250 new, about $1,000 in today's money, and frequently sell on eBay for anywhere between $150 and $350. New ones cost right around $350 but are outsourced and aren't built the same way - the motor may not be as powerful - but you do still oil them. Often times you can catch a STEAL for one on Craigslist. I've bought them for as cheap as $5 and one was listed last night for free on the owner's curb. A lot of people take these fans in particular down and describe them as "this heavy, ugly old fan", not realizing what it's worth. Most if not all of them are very good quality. Many of them had built this way since they were invented in the late 1800's. Generally speaking, an antique will move more air than anything produced in the last 40 years or so. There were a couple of oil-bath "knockoffs" of the Hunter Original. One company, Classic Fans out of DeSoto, TX (now defunct), made an Original copy that is said to be more powerful than an Original itself. I do think there are are a couple of lists of manufacturers out there, but I'm not sure of any with specific model numbers. Hope this answers some of your questions. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2015 15:02:28 GMT -5
i say emerson and fanamation are top notch brands today on quality wise imo.. i got lot of emersons in my collection but i would avoid the friction drive models on quality wise(same reason what jw said about gear drive and belt drive ones),but i go for k55 or perfered k63 emerson/sears emersons like casablanca classics,i got 2 of those in my collection of the ornate ones and i got 2 brass regular casablanca classics as well
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2015 15:03:50 GMT -5
i got few friction drive emersons in my collection but i got them mainly/only for the looks(my childhood memories) reasons,thats it
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